Mike Marotta and Rodney Stilwell have been, arguably, the two best men's amateur golfers on Staten Island for the past several years

Marotta (South Shore) has won the Steven F. Zuntag Classic several times in the last few years and Stilwell (Silver Lake) has won that event as well and is a five-time S.I. Amateur champion, having annexed the past two titles.

Over the past few years these two players have owned the S.I. Senior Amateur Championship as no other players have been able to break the dynamic duo's dominance of the event.

So it was no surprise when the two players led the field in the 50-plus year-old qualifying round at Silver Lake Friday.

Marotta took top honors by firing a 71 while defending champion Stilwell was two shots back at 73 among the 30 golfers who started the day in a search of one of the top 16 spots in Saturday's round at Silver Lake.

Close behind Marotta and Stilwell were Vin Dicrescento and Tom Giordano, who had 74s and Mark Dudziec (75). John Crane, last year's runner-up, finished with a 76, and captured the No. 6 seed.

Four players tied for the last qualifying spot and were forced into a sudden-death playoff. Mike Walsh parred the first extra hole and earned the spot by ousting Steve Zaderiko, Vinny Innocente and Jeff Fitzgerald.

His prize? A Saturday matchup with Marotta.

The other Saturday matches are:

No. 8 Armando Iacobellis vs. No. 9 John Garland

No. 4 Giordano vs. No. 13 Al Sala

No. 5 Mark Dudziec vs. No. 12 Vin Pontieri

No. 2 Stilwell vs. No. 15 John Kocurek

No. 7 Berardi vs. No. 10 Jack Kinlock

No. 3 Dicrescrento vs. No. 14 Doug Johnstone

No. 6 Crane vs. No. 11 Mike Stumpf

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Saturday's winners advance to the quarterfinals on Sunday at Silver Lake. Those winners move on to Richmond County Country Club for the semifinals and finals on Aug. 26-27.

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Dicrescento had the shot of the day, knocking in an iron from about 135 yards on the 12th hole for an eagle two. Birdies were a common occurrence, as there were 44 birdies divided amongst the 30 players.

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The worst shot (or shots) of the day was Joe Berardi's three-putt on the third green from four inches. Berardi casually struck the ball, almost missing it, and then struck it again on the follow through. When neither of those mishits found the bottom of the cup, Berardi had to settle for the triple-bogie six.

"I just missed it, and then I missed it again," reported Berardi who noted that he had made a quintuple bogie nine on the first hole of the South Shore championship a few weeks ago, and recovered admirably in that event. Berardi relied upon that experience, and was able to recover and shoot a six-over par 76, and qualify as the No. 7 seed.